Love's Cunning Ruse novel Chapter 315

"Wasn't this Karl's task?" Julie asked Dylan, a puzzled frown on her face. "How did you find out?"

"Karl? Please, I’m more capable," Dylan said with an enigmatic smirk, glancing at Julie and Kieran. "Guess who the real owner of the Rankin place is? If you nail it, I'll poke my own eyes!"

Julie frowned, "Since you're betting your eyes on it, I'm guessing it's not Natalia, right?"

"If it were that easy, I'd be blind by now!" Dylan retorted with feigned arrogance, turning to Kieran. "C'mon, Kerry, you're the smart cookie here. Take a wild guess."

Kieran remained silent, giving nothing away.

With a look that said 'I knew you wouldn't guess', Dylan took a dramatic breath. "What if I told you the owner of the house where Rankin lived is—"

"Kyle." Kieran cut in abruptly, leaving Dylan's revelation stuck in his throat.

After a couple of coughs to clear his airway, Dylan stared at Kieran with a face that could have caught flies. "No way! How did you guess that?"

Kieran casually waved his phone, where a fresh text from Karl lay bare the startling fact: the owner for the Rankin estate was none other than Kyle.

Dylan's face fell. He should've known; a bombshell like that wasn't something that easy to guess, not even for Kieran.

"Rankin Smith and Kyle Smith, both sharing the same surname. And the house where Rankin stayed is under Kyle's name. Can't be a coincidence, right?" Dylan sucked in a breath of cold air. "Why does this feel so twisted? Are they brothers or something?"

Dylan directed that last part to Julie, but she could only shake her head in innocence, insisting she was as clueless as they were about any connection between Rankin and Kyle.

Dylan shook his head. "I've never met Rankin, but I've seen Kyle. Did you guys ever notice... Kyle wears contacts?"

Who the heck pays that much attention?

Julie shook her head, baffled. "So what if he wears contacts? Kyle's nearsighted. He wore glasses when he dated my sister. Never seen him without them."

"The thing is he wears contacts under his glasses!" Dylan said, eyebrows raised, hoping to see a glimmer of recognition in Julie's eyes.

Instead, Julie only offered a sympathetic cringe.

Kieran, however, piped up with, "The glasses are just for show. No prescription."

"That's exactly my point," Dylan said, tapping the table for emphasis. "Remember when Dr. Fred's daughter Emily was kidnapped by Kyle? And then, Dr. Fred didn't press charges because Kyle didn't harm her. Since they didn't pursue it and agreed to help Sansa, we just let it slide. But Kyle's motive was to stop Fred from treating Sansa. Now, when the treatment starts, Kyle's suddenly offered help, even standing vigil by Sansa's bedside every night, according to Dr. Brice. Don't you find his behavior contradictory and baffling?"

"With so many questions, why not ask him directly?" Kieran suggested, reaching for his phone.

Julie grabbed Kieran's phone with an uncertain look. "Should we really call him?"

Dylan eyed Kieran warily, his expression knotted with doubt. "If we knew for sure he was on our side, it'd be one thing. But if he's not, we might spook him. Kerry, think this through! We don't want to give ourselves away."

"Never suspect the man you use and never use the man you suspect," Kieran stated simply.

And with that... Julie let go. She understood. Meeting Kyle was necessary. The questions they had were non-negotiable. Even if it meant startling him, it had to be done. They needed to see Kyle's reaction to ascertain his true allegiance. If he was an ally, they might glean some truth. If he was an enemy, they'd be on guard.

Kieran asked Kyle to meet up for that evening at The Golden Gourmet.

Then, abruptly looking up at Julie and Kieran, he said, "I came here today to tell a story, but I wonder if you'd like to hear it first."

Julie and Kieran, all ears, were genuinely curious to hear what Kyle had to say.

His expression remained inscrutable, almost as if he was recounting a tale from someone else's distant past...

"Once upon a time, a well-heeled young man had to travel abroad for work, a long-term assignment. There, he met a girl who seemed destined to cross his path. They met, got to know each other, grew close, and inevitably fell in love, yet they weren't meant to stay together..."

He narrated as if he were a third person telling someone else's story, but Julie and Kieran knew this was his tale, Kyle's story, the story of Kyle and Sansa.

"The boy came from serious money. His father was a well-known figure, his mother too. But he seldom saw his father growing up. The person who raised him was his mother, a formidable, outstanding woman. She was the one he held in the highest respect. Yet for this girl, he defied his mother's wishes for the first time because he wanted to marry her, truly. He even went to the lengths of hiring actors to pose as his parents to get engaged to her..."

Julie's brow furrowed deeply...

She knew that the actors playing the role of parents were the ordinary, unassuming couple she had once met. They were not Kyle's biological parents but were hired by him.

She listened quietly as Kyle continued, "But the girl was too smart. She uncovered the boy's lies and forced the truth out of him. He knew he'd lose her trust if he didn't come clean, so he did—about his background, his family, his real parents. Sadly, they still broke up..."

Kyle spoke in a hushed tone, "Because the boy's ex-girlfriend joined forces with his mother and went to that country. They used the girl as leverage to force the boy back home. The girl was the one who broke things off first because the disparity in their social standing had overwhelmed her..."

"Stop it, just stop!" Julie suddenly stood up, her gaze fiery as she confronted Kyle, "You know better than anyone what Sansa felt for you, she..."

"She was my woman, the only one I have ever truly acknowledged in my life!" Kyle's eyes blazed red with fury as he shouted.